We Malaysians pride ourselves on knowing at least two languages; Bahasa Malaysia and English— but, our fluency can admittedly be dismal. However, it seems this 12-year-old Malaysian surprised many with his vocabulary and fluency in English, including a travelling British couple.
UK couple, Jacob and Emma, or better known by their TikTok handle @/disappear_for_days were recently in Malaysia and managed to catch our Merdeka Day celebration. While here, they were delighted to discover a local young boy who completely charmed them with his conversation skills in English.
Uploaded on 5th September, the couple explained that they had been attending the festivities in KL when they bumped into two kids. “Smart Malaysian Boy at Merdeka Day,” they captioned, adding: “He speaks the Queen’s English!” The kid introduced himself as “Noah”, saying both he and his friend were twelve.
Noah mentioned that they had come early to see the celebrations. “It’s actually our first time. It’s splendid,” he told Jacob and Emma. “But it’s a little crowded to see the show.” Enraptured, the couple continued chatting with Noah who was eager to share as well. He mentioned that he wanted to visit England to try the fish and chips and see Big Ben. “But I still feel sad about the Queen,” he added.
“My teacher always says that my English is good,” Noah shared, with the couple agreeing: “Very good.” He added that he was fond of the way “the British people talk“. “What words do you like?” Emma asked, curious as to what phrase he would choose. To their surprise and amusement, in an accented voice, he responded with: “Oh dear“, which made the couple laugh.
The video has since received over 31 thousand likes and 451 thousand views. Jacob and Emma weren’t the only ones impressed by Noah because plenty of netizens were too. Several praised him for his English speaking skills, with one commenting: “He has the style of a minister.” while another marveled at his confidence.
Others praised his English teacher for teaching him well. “Look at how openly he talks, (his) tone, vibe, openness, his posture, his open palms. He must have great surroundings to develop this well,” a comment observed. Another, presumably an English teacher sighed: “Queens English.. how I wish I have him as my student.”
Well, there’s no denying that Noah’s charm and amazing command of the English language has won many hearts over. As Jacob and Emma said in their video: “This kid is going places!” Like others in the comments, we too hope Noah will be able to visit London soon!
Watch their video here:
@disappear_for_days 🇲🇾 How smart is this boy? MERDEKA DAY! #shorts #merdeka #malaysia #harimerdeka #merdeka2023 #independence #smart
Sources: TikTok, Sin Chew Daily
